128 



Nature-Study Agriculture 



Planting 



and 



fertilizing 



cabbage 



plants 



What the 

 cabbage 

 butterfly 

 does 



Spraying 



The 



climates 

 to which 

 beans and 

 peas are 

 native 



ishment that they would take will go into the fruit and 

 develop it more perfectly. 



Cabbage. Like tomato plants, cabbage plants are 

 usually raised in a hotbed and transplanted to the 

 field or garden. Cabbage grows very fast while heading, 

 and it therefore requires an abundance of nourishment. 

 If manure is too scarce to be spread all over the ground, 

 it should be put around each plant and worked into the 

 soil, or before transplanting it should be buried where 

 each plant is to be placed. 



One serious pest is the cabbage worm, which is so 

 nearly the color of the leaf that it can scarcely be seen. 

 It is hatched from eggs laid by a white or slightly yellow 

 butterfly with black markings on its wings (Fig. 106). 

 This is the butterfly that is often seen flitting from one 

 cabbage plant to another to deposit its eggs. The but- 

 terfly itself does no harm. Lead arsenate may be sprayed 

 on the plants before the heads begin to form. If spray- 

 ing is properly done even after the heads have formed, 

 there is no danger, for it has been determined that as 

 many as twenty-eight heads of cabbage so sprayed would 

 have to be eaten to cause poisoning. The only danger 

 is in using an unnecessary amount of the spray. An 

 even safer spray, however, is tobacco extract. This 

 will destroy not only the worms but also plant lice, 

 which often injure the cabbage crop. 



Beans and peas. Beans have been grown since an- 

 cient times in the warm countries that border on the 

 Mediterranean Sea. The varieties we raise are sup- 

 posed to have originated in the warmer parts of South 

 America. As might be expected, beans are known as 



